Helicopter propeller



Jan. s, 1943. G. A. BESS 2,307,381

HELICOPTER PROPELLER Filed July 12, 1940 Patented Jan. 5, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT oFElcE nemcorrm rnormmn Gustavus A. Bess, Sacramento, Calif. Appuoauon .my 12, 1940, serial No. 345,021

1 cano. (ci. 11o-161) This invention relates to improvements in airplanes of the helicopter type.

The princlpal'object of this invention is to produce an airplane'helicopter propeller which will be emcient in operation and one wherein the air currents will be prevented from spilling from the propeller supporting surfaces.

A further object is to provide means whereby the air being acted upon by the propeller will be condensed so as to cause a greater working efflclency.

' A further object is lto produce a device of this character which may be attached to any standord airplane yfuselage and operated by the motor positioned therein.

A further object ofthe invention to produce a device of this character which is economical to manufacture and sturdy in construction. i

,A still further object of the invention is to .produce a propeller which will enable the airplane having the same thereon to take oi! and land within a very limited area in counterdistinction to the ordinary airplane, which requires a long runway.

Other objects advantages be apparent' during the course of the following description.

In the accompanying drawing forming a part of' this specification andin which like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same,

Fig. l is a side elevation of an airplane ,equipped 'with my propeller;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view'of .1;'and

nates the body of an airplane having the customary wheels 6 and skid l. At 8 I have shown a wing surface, which wing'surface may be of any Fig. 3 is a front elevation of Fig. 1 having a A wing surface. the propeller is enabled to act upon' sumcient wind to cause an uplift which will 'Support the.vehicle in Hight. It is, of course,

obvious thatforward motion'may be obtained by a slighttipping of the propeller forwardly or backwardly, but as that is common to helicopters,

the same has been' eliminated from the drawing for simplicity's sake.

The same mechanism shown in my previous Patent No. 1,744,257, may be used i'orv driving the propeller, or-any similar mechanism may be employed.

In the accompanying drawing wherein for the Purpose of illustration is shown a preferred embodiment of my invention, the numeral t desigwing surfaces 4" desired design. and the usual rudder is shown at9, with an elevating rudder being shown at ii. The parts thus far described are common to any airplane and form no part of my invention.

My invention consists of a propeller mounted upon a shaft I2 about the axis of which the same is rotated through power delivered to the shaft in any convenient manner. A strut I 3 is keyed or otherwise secured to the lshaft I2 and extends substantially parallel to the top of the wing 8 (seeFig. 3). At the outer end of this strut I3 I provide discs I4 and I6, which discs are substantially the same width as the width of the wing surface. Extending above and below each disc are vertically arranged blades Il.

The result of .this construction is that when the propelleris mounted on the top of the air- .plane (as shownland the same is revolved, a

lifting. action will ,take place, as iscommon with helicopter propellers. The ordinary helicopter propeller, however, vis very ineicient in that the air spills oil the outer ends of the propeller, and,

also, the rotating of the propeller has a tendency to push away some of the air adjacent the lead ing edge. I have, therefore, provided vertically disposed blades above and below the disc portion of the propeller, which blades in rotating tend to prevent the air from spilling oi the propeller;

`and, at the same time, as the propeller rotates,

these blades gather in additional air adjacent the leading edge and, thus, in a sense, compress the air so that the propeller has more surface upon which 'to act.

It will thus be seen that my propeller accomplishes all the objects herein set forth.

It is to be understood that the forxn oi my invention herewith ,shown and described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same and that various changes relative to the material, size, shape and arrangement of parts may be lresorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the subioined Having thus described my invention, I claim:

In a .helicopter propeller. a strut secured to and rotated by a shaft and in horizontal piane, discs secured to the outer ends of said strut, said discs being substantially fiat, and means carried by said discs for preventing the spilling of air from said propeller when said propeller is rotated, said means including vertically disposed` -blades arranged on the upper and lower surfaces of said discs, said blades being in vertical align- -ment one with the other and positioned toward the leading edge of said discs.

GUSTAVUS A. BESS- 

